Brent Honeywell

FEBRUARY 23: Rays top pitching prospect Brent Honeywell has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Tommy John surgery has been recommended for the promising 22-year-old.

The diagnosis represents a worst-case scenario for the Rays in the wake of yesterday’s ominous arm injury for Honeywell. The early diagnosis was a forearm strain, though that’s often a precursor to a UCL tear upon further testing. Topkin noted yesterday that the injury was of “major concern” to the Rays. Honeywell reportedly threw roughly 10 pitches in a batting practice session before loudly shouting after his final pitch and eventually walking off the mound with a trainer.

The likely loss of Honeywell for the season is a brutal hit to the Rays’ depth. Even though Tampa Bay is hardly lacking for rotation alternatives, Honeywell ranks as not just one of the best pitching prospects in baseball but one of the top overall prospects in the game. Each of Baseball America, MLB.com, ESPN, Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus ranked Honeywell within the top 15 overall prospects on their respective top 100 lists heading into the 2018 season.

Honeywell, the No. 72 overall draft pick in the 2014 draft, enjoyed a terrific season in Triple-A against older competition in 2017, tossing 123 2/3 innings with 11.1 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 0.8 HR/9 and a 41.2 percent ground-ball rate en route to a 3.64 ERA, a 2.84 FIP and a 2.77 xFIP.

Topkin had previously reported that Honeywell was likely ticketed for Triple-A to open the season, as the Rays are prepared to open the year with a four-man rotation of Chris Archer, Nathan Eovaldi, Jake Faria and Blake Snell. Matt Andriese will begin the season as a multi-inning reliever, but the extra off-days early in the 2018 schedule mean the Rays won’t need a fifth starter for several weeks. Andriese seems likely to eventually step into that role. Honeywell could’ve been called up early this summer to avoid Super Two status or, at the very least, called up at some point in May once the team had secured another year of club control over the highly touted righty.

That, of course, won’t be the case at all now at any point in the 2018 season. The Rays have alternatives to eventually step into the rotation as needed, though none comes with an upside that matches Honeywell. Nonetheless, the Rays have an enviable stock of young pitching in the upper minors and already on the 40-man roster, led by Anthony Banda, Jose De Leon, Ryan Yarbrough and Yonny Chirinos.

Rays top pitching prospect Brent Honeywell exited today’s workout with an arm injury that is of “potential major concern” to the team, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (allTwitterlinks). Per Topkin, Honeywell threw eight to 10 pitches before cursing loudly and walking off the mound with a trainer. Manager Kevin Cash tells Topkin that the early diagnosis is a forearm strain, and Honeywell is set to undergo further evaluations.

Honeywell, 22, is considered among the game’s elite minor leaguers, ranking among baseball’s top 20 or so overall prospects on virtually every major publication. The former No. 72 overall draft pick enjoyed a terrific season in Triple-A against older competition in 2017, tossing 123 2/3 innings with 11.1 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 0.8 HR/9 and a 41.2 percent ground-ball rate en route to a 3.64 ERA, a 2.84 FIP and a 2.77 xFIP.

While most consider Honeywell to be ready for Major League action, or at least very close to MLB readiness, Tampa Bay wasn’t expected to break camp with Honeywell in the rotation. Rather, he figured to open the season in Triple-A — both to finish off his development and also to buy the Rays an additional year of club control by delaying his service clock, as many teams tend to do with their top young talent. The forearm issue could well delay his start to the season and, of course, could be a portent to a more severe injury.

Tampa Bay recently thinned out its rotation mix by trading Jake Odorizzi to the Twins, though they quickly replenished the lost depth by picking up Anthony Banda — another largely MLB-ready young starter — in the Steven Souza trade with the D-backs and Yankees. Any lengthy absence for Honeywell would deprive the organization of its highest-upside minor league arm, but the Rays do possess a considerably deep stock of big-league-ready starters, even if many of them are lacking in Major League experience.

The Rays are set to open the season with Chris Archer, Blake Snell, Jake Faria and Nathan Eovaldi in a four-man rotation, Topkin recently reported, with Matt Andriese beginning the year as a multi-inning reliever and eventually sliding into the fifth spot in the rotation. Looming in the upper minors are Banda, Jose De Leon, Ryan Yarbrough and Yonny Chirinos, each of whom has had a full season of Triple-A work under his belt at this point. Both Yarbrough and Chirinos enjoyed particularly strong years in the rotation for the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate last year, and each of that group is already on the 40-man roster. Righties Jose Mujica and Hunter Wood have less experience and success in the upper levels, but each is on the 40-man roster and could plausibly see MLB time in 2018.

With J.D. Martinez heading to Boston, the Red Sox are facing somewhat of a roster crunch, writes Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston. It is not, however, at first base as many have suggested. Manager Alex Cora suggested Tuesday that he views Hanley Ramirez as his No. 3 hitter and primary first baseman, even though the team re-upped Mitch Moreland on a two-year deal this winter. As Drellich points out, though, each of Moreland, Ramirez and Martinez have dealt with injury issues in recent years, so Moreland still figures to get his share of at-bats.

Rather, Drellich observes, the bigger crunch will be on the bench. Sandy Leon is the favorite to serve as the backup catcher, and one of Moreland or Ramirez will be on the bench most days. The Sox have two out-of-options players in Deven Marrero and Blake Swihart that are current bench options, but they also have Brock Holt who agreed to a $2.2MM arbitration salary earlier this winter. That deal, like the vast majority of arb deals, is non-guaranteed, but Holt’s versatility has been valuable for the Sox in recent seasons and he seems unlikely to be cut loose. Holt does have minor league options remaining, though obviously paying him to play in Triple-A is suboptimal as well.

A bit more on the Sox and their division…

The Red Sox are unlikely to trade Jackie Bradley after signing J.D. Martinez this week, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. That’s not much of a surprise, as Bradley’s name hasn’t come up on the rumor circuit much in recent months, and the trio of Bradley, Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts should be among the best defensive outfield units in all of baseball.

The Blue Jays are still seeking upgrades after last week’s signing of lefty Jaime Garcia to round out the rotation, and GM Ross Atkins suggested to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet that there’s a strong likelihood that they’ll make a move before Opening Day (Twitterlinks). Atkins somewhat candidly said he felt there’s about a 90 percent chance the Jays have another addition in store, citing a reliever as the likeliest pickup. Notably, Atkins added that improving at backup catcher, where light-hitting Luke Maile projects as the reserve behind Russell Martin, “is less likely at this point.”

Troy Tulowitzki is making progress from last year’s ankle injury, which included torn ligaments in his foot as well as a compression factor, writes Nicholson-Smith in a full column. However, he has yet to begin running this spring. Tulowitzki’s goal is to be ready for Opening Day, though the 33-year-old veteran said he’s not putting any timelines on his recovery and won’t risk a setback by pushing himself too far. He fielded grounders thrown to him by the coaching staff today, though the drills “weren’t designed to test his range too much” just yet, per Nicholson-Smith. Even if Tulo isn’t ready for Opening Day, the Blue Jays are much better prepared from a depth vantage point up the middle, where they’ll have offseason trade acquisitions Yangervis Solarte and Aledmys Diaz backing up Tulowitzki and Devon Travis.

The most likely scenario for the Yankees and newly acquiredBrandon Drury is that Drury opens the season as the team’s starting third baseman, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. That’d allow the Yankees to go with either Ronald Torreyes or veteran Danny Espinosa at second base and avoid rushing prospects Miguel Andujar or Gleyber Torres early in the season. Interestingly, despite the fact that Torres missed half the 2017 season with Tommy John surgery (in his non-throwing arm), the Yankees view Torres as closer to the Majors, per Sherman. Andujar is nearly two years older than Torres and has twice the Triple-A experience, though neither has even appeared in 60 games at the top minor league level yet.

The Phillies are placing Aaron Altherr on the DL after the outfielder aggravated his injured hamstring, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. Altherr spent ten days on the DL due to a hamstring problem last month. When healthy, the 26-year-old has been a highlight of the Phillies’ season, batting .285/.357/.536 with 16 home runs in 336 plate appearances, but now it appears he’ll be on the shelf for at least a short time. Here’s more from the East divisions.

The Braves are “almost certain” to retain manager Brian Snitker next season, Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. Snitker took over as the Braves’ interim manager last season, and the Braves hired him full-time (although only for a one-year deal plus an option) after he led the rebuilding club to a 59-65 record following a brutal 9-28 start under Fredi Gonzalez. After a 50-58 start this year, it appears both the Braves’ players and its front office appreciate having Snitker around. Snitker has “done everything possible to help us win,” says Freddie Freeman. “He deserved the managerial job when he got, and we all hope that he’s back.” Team president of baseball operations John Hart suggests Snitker will return. “[L]et’s just say that Brian hasn’t done anything to make us look around for candidates like we were doing at this time last year, when we were compiling names,” says Hart. “If you broke into my office in the dead of night, you would find no slips of paper in my desk.”

Prior to yesterday’s game, the Rays optioned lefty and former top prospect Blake Snell to Triple-A Durham, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times noted. They also recalled lefty Jose Alvarado(giving the Rays’ bullpen an extra arm for the time being), activated infielder Daniel Robertson, and optioned infielder Taylor Featherston. The 24-year-old Snell has a 4.98 ERA this season with 8.0 K/9 and a too-high 5.1 BB/9. This is the second time he’s been sent down — he also spent a six-week stint with Durham beginning in mid-May. Topkin notes that it’s unclear who will take Snell’s rotation spot, although the team has an off-day Monday, so there will be time to sort that out. One possibility is that Austin Pruitt (who pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings against Houston earlier this week) could remain in the rotation after Jake Odorizzi returns from a back strain. But Topkin also mentions that the team could promote 22-year-old top prospect Brent Honeywell, who has a 3.95 ERA, 11.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 100 1/3 innings in his first season with Durham.

Orioles right-hander Brad Brach may be receiving more trade interest than closer Zach Britton, as there is “heavy traffic on” Brach’s services, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports. Brach would come at a lower prospect cost than Britton, hence the larger degree of interest. Both pitchers have one year of arbitration eligibility left, with Brach ($3.05MM this season) on pace for a much lower salary than Britton ($11.4MM) even though Brach has pitched very well as Baltimore’s interim closer while Britton has spent much of the year on the DL. Brach already drew a lot of looks in the offseason and may be even more popular now that teams know they can potentially use him as a closer as well as a setup man.

Here’s more from the AL East…

The Red Sox have placed two relievers on the 10-day DL in as many days, with Joe Kelly sidelined with a left hamstring strain yesterday and veteran righty Blaine Boyer announced this morning as suffering from a right elbow strain. The hard-throwing Kelly has a 1.49 ERA over 36 1/3 relief innings for the Sox this season, with peripheral stats indicating some good fortune (.228 BABIP, 88.1% strand rate) to go along with Kelly’s 54.9% grounder rate. Boyer, meanwhile, has a 3.00 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 3.33 K/BB rate over 24 innings after signing a minor league deal with Boston in April. The Red Sox were already rumored to be looking for relief help at the deadline, and it’s likely that the search will intensify after losing two bullpen arms.

The Rays asked the Marlins about relief pitching when the two sides were negotiating the Adeiny Hechavarria trade last month, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. With the Rays looking for bullpen help and Miami seemingly open to moving any veteran player, it seems that the two sides are likely to re-open talks as we approach the deadline.

Also from Topkin, he reports that one team (not necessarily the Marlins) asked the Rays for both Brent Honeywell and Willy Adames in exploratory discussions about relievers. Needless to say, it would be a big surprise if either top prospect was actually dealt, though it gives an example of the high price tag that teams are placing on top-shelf relief pitching at the deadline.

The Cubs checked in on Chris Archer and Marcus Stroman during their wide-ranging search for young and controllable pitching, Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com writes. Archer has long been linked to Chicago in trade rumors, though the most recent talks unsurprisingly went nowhere since the Rays want to keep their ace to make a playoff run. As for Stroman, the Blue Jays informed the Cubs that the 26-year-old righty would cost Chicago a player from its big league roster. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently observed in his “Taking Inventory” analysis on the Jays, Stroman probably isn’t a likely trade candidate unless Toronto decides to embark on a total rebuild. The Cubs, of course, acquired Jose Quintana earlier this week and are reportedly still on the lookout to add another controllable arm to their rotation.